


You're My BFF

by automatonBoy



Series: incredibly selective content [1]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, gee hat kid. how come you get TWO best friends??, incredibly selective restitching of cut content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 12:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21320365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/automatonBoy/pseuds/automatonBoy
Summary: Wherever she wandered on this world, something new would always spring up to surprise her.Maybe that’s why she kept wandering around the dark forest, enchanted by it, she continuously wanted more from it.The universe delivers. Strings cut are tied back together.--Hat Kid meets a new friend in the Subcon Forest!
Relationships: Hat Kid & Moon Jumper, Hat Kid & Snatcher
Series: incredibly selective content [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1568707
Comments: 115
Kudos: 309





	1. Bog Botherer

**Author's Note:**

> I really really love the Subcon Forest and I’d kill for more content.

It seems that the longer she sticks around this planet, the more of the world opens up to her and reveals that yes, it _ has _ been hoarding time pieces from her. So, it looks like the only thing to do is stick around a bit longer and wait for more secrets to unveil. Hat Kid grins at the thought as her ship beams her down to the surface below. _ Stay a little longer and explore some more? How terrible. _

She slams into the ground and spins her feet on the grass, making a nice show of her pose. The spinning was a trick taught to her to disperse shock from the impact and minimize the change of injury on entry, which was one of the most common ways space travelers such as herself became injured! 

The pose was for fun and flair. Audience or not, she never needed one to feel like a rock-star or a famous adventurer starting a new mission. 

She looked around the surrounding purple forest, the glowing mushrooms and twisted roots just _ begging _ to be climbed. Her first mission of the day? Explore! 

Today isn't as aimless as her usual adventures are. She swears she wandered somewhere she’s never been before in the Subcon Forest the other day, her contracts must have never lead her to explore those areas. She wants to see every inch of this place now that her soul is in its rightful spot and with nothing else to fear in the forest-- except.. _ Her _ , but Hat Kid is well away from the sharp, crisp air and twinkling ice. No, here where the forest meets the swamp everything is a comforting dark purple, with dots of glowing light in the form of mushrooms, lanterns, and the yellow eyes that peak out from the trees. The air is pleasantly cool here, better than the almost suffocating warmth of the perpetually on fire section of the forest and _ much _much better than The Manor.

No, she has nothing to fear here. It’s calming. She knows not to stick any limb in the swamp for too long-- that _ will _ kill her. But she knows it, so it’s not a threat. 

To prove it to her internal monologue, she leans over to the edge of the swamp, poking the sludge with her finger before retracting. The goop grips her finger for a moment as it rises before falling back down with a _ ploop _. She giggles. Kind of like the ruler of this forest, nothing here can hurt her because she won’t let them, simple as that. 

She pokes the gloop a few more times, listening to the funny sound it makes, until a thin lilac limb shoots up from under her nose, startling her to fall onto her back. It wags a finger at her disapprovingly, prompting her to laugh loud and clear. 

That’s another thing, everything here was so _ fun! _ Where else would a swamp scold her?

It rears back in offense, but if she knows anything about this forest and it’s inhabitants, she knows that these interactions tended to be an elaborate show. Drama for the sake of being dramatic and trickery as a means to lighten an afterlife that could grow dull without it. And _ nothing _ here was dull (except maybe Snatchers law books-- BORRRINNGGG).

Now the _ real _ question was if a classic taunt or blowing a kiss would be the most effective here. The taunt _ was _ a classic, and anywhere else on this planet she’d go to it right away. But another special thing about Subcon was the outright denial and outrage that came with even the smallest sign of affection. It was _ hilarious _. 

Even the minions, some of whom she’s grown quite close to, will swat away a kiss blown in their direction or mime gagging in response. They’ll laugh and play with her for days, pull her out from under close calls of wandering under a massive spider, and lay with her in the grass for a nap under the stars after a particularly exhausting day. But when she goes to hug one of them they’ll complain “you’re a weird one, newbie” or make a big show of a groan, all the while leaning heavily into the embrace despite not truly returning it… Okay, maybe that part wasn’t so funny.

But regardless, when it comes to taunting subconites, one of the surefire ways is upfront affection.

She blows a kiss to the swamps waving arm, which recoils further into the swamp as expected, but not before flicking some of the goop out at her

“HEY!” She shrieks in surprise, blowing a raspberry as she brushes the slime off of her clothes. 

“Good one.” she admits, looking back to the now retreating arm as it disappears back into the depths before she can recorpate and retaliate again. Smart swamp arm. 

With this section of swamp thoroughly bothered, it was time to take a crack at what she could find on dry land. She wandered away into the forest, looking for something she hadn’t seen before. 

And did the forest deliver. New groupings of mushrooms and winding stone structures. An untouched vine trap of Snatchers doing that she mentally cataloged to mess with later. 

The further she went, the less and less she saw shadows looming in a tell-tale sign of a spider waiting to fall onto prey. The trees had less nooks here, less and less space for eyes to peak out until there was just no more. And she hadn’t seen a dweller since before her stop at the swampy area. The stone structures dwindled smaller and smaller in size, as did the mushrooms. But they began to arrange themselves more and more… directionally. A path was forming. 

Deeper and deeper she followed the glowing lights and scattered stones. The sight here was _ mesmerizingly _ beautiful. 

She knew this had to lead to somewhere new, she’d never seen anything like it before. Curbing her excitement, she took note of how enchanting it was, remembering to still keep her wits about her. She once thought the ice surrounding the manor was beautiful too until she saw the way it encased the homes the Queen’s power engulfed. 

Then again… there was a distinct _ lack _ of homes engulfed by monster mushrooms or crushed with rocks. Sure, whoever she may meet down this path might try and kill her, but who hasn’t on this planet? Nah, her hope was that despite it they might still be friends. 

Her pace picks up unconsciously as a troubling thought emerges. The last two times she met someone new didn’t end so well for her. The Captain was nice enough, but the guilt of crashing his ship laid heavy on her whenever they talked, that was all her fault. She still doesn’t have it in her to call him more than an acquaintance. And the Empress… a shiver passes through her. She _ really _ wanted to kill her-- and, and steal the time pieces! And unlike Snatcher, she knows she doesn’t stand a chance against the Empress. The next time she sees her without those cat cops around ... yeah.

In both cases she knows why they ended the way they did, she has to get those timepieces no matter what, or else she can’t go home. 

Grimmly she resolves that this will be no different, if there’s even one time piece, she has to make sure she gets it…. Even if it means she can’t have a new friend. 

So grimmly resolved she was, she almost didn’t notice the path widening into a circular clearing. But she did notice. Because she’s just that good. 

She walks slowly around the perimeter of the space. 

The path appears to simply… stop here. Mushrooms and stones line the circle, no bigger than the size of her bedroom back on her ship. The dense trees overhead block the moonlight along her path, but here it thins out enough to light up the space.

Oddest of all, it feels… empty. Like when you move out an old couch and the space it leaves seems bigger somehow. Her eyes scan the edge of the circle again, searching for a pattern in the colors of the mushrooms, or maybe a stone that’s really a button or a switch? The moon rises higher between the trees, casting it’s light down to slowly fill the circle with more light. 

She stops, looking up to the moon and then back down to the shadows inching past her feet and retreating beyond the border. The moonlight was filling up the clearing.

Understanding that something must be happening, she takes a few steps back out of the entrance of the clearing and plops herself down to sit down at the end of the path. This might take a few minutes, passage of time and all.

Hat Kid is a clever child. A strong child. A determined child. 

But she is still a child. 

And being out late at night, along with walking for so long, makes children a bit sleepy. So understandably, after ten minutes of watching shadows inch ahead her eyes begin to droop. Surely, she thinks, she has another twenty minutes before she has to open her eyes again, so surely closing them for just a little bit won’t hurt. 

She wakes not to her own resolve, but to a voice. 

“Hello, little girl.”


	2. Paranormal Interrogator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support you've shown!!  
Now let's get into that meeting...

“Hello, little girl.”

Blearily, her eyes open from her position on the ground. Up above her she can see hangs the crescent moon, impressively large and bright. She considers it for another moment, the moon usually doesn't look this large when it's directly overhead. Mulling this over with another slow blink, the words finally register.

She jerks up into a sit, knocking her hat off her head in the process.

The person before her leans at the edge of the clearing, peering at her with a mix of curiosity and awe. It’s a floating, ghostly figure lit by the moons light, wearing a tattered red coat along with thick chains that drift effortlessly from its arms. It was her movement that breathed life into his actions. Broken from his own spell, his cracked monocle glints as he tilts his head back and lets out a laugh. 

There's an undeniably regal air to him, she's not sure if his outfit used to be a uniform or if it's because of the monocle. But maybe it's also his laugh. There's real emotion behind it, but it's a _practiced_ laugh. The emotions restrained and kept nice around the edges, like how adults laugh at a fancy dinner party.

His deep blue and red eyes fall down to her again now, strange patterns swirling within them drawing her focus back to him in the moment.

She remembers firstly, her manners. 

“Hello. I’m Hat Kid.”

And secondly, that this honestly isn’t the strangest thing she has seen in this forest, let alone this planet. Of course, she still plans to keep her guard up for danger with the track record this planet has had with her, but there’s no reason to be rude just because he has a bit of an 'unhinged royalty' vibe.

She smiles up at him. 

He grins in return, showing off two pearly fangs, and drifts down closer to Hat Kid’s level. “That you are.”

Not even a second after hearing a soft _shift_ sound behind her, she finds her hat being placed firmly back on her head. Her eyes shoot up and catch thin red lines unfurl from her hat and zip themselves up into the sky. Her befuddlement, however, is cut short as he speaks again. 

“You can call me Moonjumper.”

She looks back to him. He’s much closer now, but still hovering within the clearing.

“I haven’t had the pleasure of a guest in a _ very _ long time.” She expects him to follow that up with something, but he’s content to leave that statement as is…This guy really doesn’t talk much with other people, does he? 

They stare at eachother for a few more moments, and Hat Kid frowns. She can’t tell what it is that he _wants_. Snatcher wanted her soul and for her to do his chores. Vannessa wanted her to be a statue in her collection. There’s no telling what this Moonjumper could want from her, or if it would even fall in line with his fellow forest dwellers!

So she might as well ask.

“Are you going to turn me into a statue?”

He chuckles, “No, no, now why would I do that?” he’s clearly amused but she presses on, narrowing her gaze at him.

“Are you going to take my soul?”

His laugh titters “What would I do with a soul?” It's hard to tell if he thinks this is a joke, or if he's playing with her. Time to get a bit more specific. 

“Are you going to force me to do your chores and kill me if I don’t?” Hat kid just can’t shake the nagging reminder of Snatcher from the guy. 

His smile drops now. Moonjumpers eyes widen with concern and he simply shakes his head no.

She continues, with Moonjumper in a more appropriate gravity giving earnest “No”’s to her questions of killer director contestant status, owning a crashable ship and/or train, if he plans on scamming her out of royalties, or if he wants to strangle her cute neck. 

She pauses her questioning to give him another scrutinizing look up and down. 

Sure, he doesn’t _ look _ it— the tattered cloak and broken monocle don't scream a deliberate fashion choice— but the scratch of claw marks from last week are still sore enough to compel her to tick all the boxes.

“Are you part of a gang or mob or…” Hmmm, well she hasn’t run into any yet, but she can _ imagine _ who would wear tattered cloaks “Cult...?”

“Child, these are all worryingly _particular _fears you have of me.”

She continues to glare at him.

He raises his hands in surrender. 

“I hold no ill intent towards you, my child. I do not desire your life, your soul, or your corpse. I am not a part of any group whatsoever--” 

He lowers his arms as she exhales in relief and extends her own arm up for him to shake. 

“All I simply want--” his hand reaches out in an open invitation, stopping at the very edge of the circle instead of meeting hers. 

She realizes that that’s as far as he can reach. Her own hand extended stops just short of crossing the border.

“--is someone to share company with.” Contrasting his words, which reminds her of anything _ but _ him, the three clunky fingers that extend on his blue hand reminds her of the Snatcher extending his own with another contract. Even though the two are great friends now, she isn’t going to forget how they met so quickly.

While her right hand still hangs in the shadows just before the the light shining at the edge of the clearing, her left hand tightens its grip around the handle of her umbrella at her side. For a fleeting moment, bedtime stories ring in the back of her mind about circles in the woods and the danger of entering, lest she be whisked away forever. She mentally shook those thoughts away. It’s risky, sure, but slight creepiness aside, he's been nothing but nice so far. And she’s never been one to turn down a friendly gesture so easily. Especially considering how friendly gestures happen so rarely on this planet. The last time she tried to play patty-cake with someone, he punted her across the street! And then she punted him across the island. So really, even if there was a trick here, she could handle it.

With a small smile, she reaches into the light to bring her hand to his. 

His own expectant smile grows as he takes her hand and gives it a light shake, bowing slightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hat Kid.”

She gives him a bow in return, replying with her own air of formality. "A pleasure to meet you too, Moonjumper." 

With a final shake, he lets her hand drop out of his. 

She isn't letting her guard down all the way just yet, but she relaxes a fair amount with the successful retrieval of her hand. That's another good point in this guys favor. 

There's still something she just can't shake about him and how he _feels_ just a bit like Snatcher. There was no way this was him shape-shifting. First of all, he's not one to play the long con without letting out a painfully obvious hint or outright dropping all pretense and shouting his favorite f-word. And secondly, she doubts that he _can_ shape-shift without being that deep shadowy purple with a glowing yellow face. Granted, red and blue makes purple, and Moonjumpers jacket has its golden accents-- but same as her first point, Snatcher just doesn't do these kinds of serious cons that last longer than the punchline.

The answer feels right there, but just a bit out of reach. Slightly to the right when she had gone left. But Hat Kid dismisses it for now. Whatever connection it is, it doesn't feel like she's missing anything in the 'life or death' department. 

It's probably fine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People always say that the moon looks bigger on the horizon. Closer.


	3. Wax Croissant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throwing on the hurt and comfort tag because this gets a teensy bit hurt/comfort....
> 
> Sorry on the delay! I've had this chapter written for the most part, but I've been mulling over exactly which direction I want this story to go in. This started as something I was writing to tell myself a story, but I always like thinking of multiple directions things could go. Now thankfully I have a good idea of what I want to do! Plot is going to be a lil loose-y goose-y since I'm mostly writing scenes I want to see, but it'll all fit together in one story (with an ending)!
> 
> And maybe I'll revisit of some of the other branches I had in mind in another story :)c
> 
> (Also GEEZ was this first part hard to write. I have three completely different drafts of it!)

With introductions out of the way, it was time for her to ask about the timepieces.

And she starts to "Have you seen--" … but she stops herself short, trailing off into silence as she stares at him.

He and the space around him seem to embody the word serene. Moonlight bathing him and the grass below him. The forests eternal mist turning to twinkle in the light. Even the dark shadows of the forest beyond the clearing don't seem as harsh with the soft glow the light of the mushrooms give into them. 

But as peaceful as the current lilac portrait is, all she can see is encroaching red of curling hate and rage that's covered all of her other attempted friends at one point or another. The thought was enough to stop her in her tracks.

Why should she even mention the time pieces just yet? She hasn't seen or felt hide nor hair of one on him, and why tip him off that there might be something of value to find around where he lives? (Or… roams? _ Does _ he live here?)

He tilts his head to the side as he stares down at her, confused by her silence but giving her space to collect herself.

And _ that, _right there. His patience… is refreshing. While right now it may not be for a usual reason, she can't help the times when words fail her. It's nice regardless to have the chance to recollect her thoughts when she's obviously searching for words. It's really a basic matter of being polite that most people on this planet don't seem to understand right away.

She doesn’t want to give this potential friend up so quickly.

Of course, if she's switching gears that means that now she needs a recovery. Thinking fast, she grabs onto their last piece of conversation: formalities.

She blurts out, “How are you?” and it totally sounds like something she planned to say from the start.

He straightens, arms folding behind him as he replies, “I’m doing well. Better than ever!” his practiced speech slips in some excitement, but he regains himself again with an “And yourself?”.

She nods-- peck, she hates formalities-- and remembers to answer aloud as well with a _ Good! _

“So…” With her stumble out of the way, she does have a few genuine questions for him. She's curious to learn a bit about her new friend, and thankfully he’s been open to listening to her so far. “Do you live over here? I’ve never been in this part of the forest, it’s very pretty!”

If her quick changes in topic and mood have been surprising him, it doesn’t show. If anything, the prompt to break a seemingly well-worn script of small talk looks to give him a boost of enthusiasm. 

“Not quite. I live _ above _ here,” He spreads his arms out wide and floats up a few feet higher, until his silhouette is cutting against the image of the moon above. “Pinned to the horizon! The view is to die for.” He smirks down at her, and she laughs. He may not have the disposition of the forest, but he has the humor. 

She cups her hands around her mouth and shouts up to him.

“Why are you called Moonjumper?” 

People on this planet really enjoy titles over names, Vanessa being the only example against it that she can think of... but she chalks that up to being a remnant of a time where names were more commonly used. It made making friends here pretty easy since she didn’t have to teach anyone how to pronounce all the the alien syllables in her name. Everyone already called her kid, adding ‘hat’ was an obvious extension to that. Titles here are easy like that. Conductor, Snatcher, Cooking Cat-- all pretty self-explanatory. But _ Moonjumper? _ She wants the story behind that one. 

He drifts down to her before he speaks, which is fair, she can’t picture him as the type to shout.

“Clever one you are! Moonjumper wasn’t always my name,” He points to the sky above them, “every night the moon jumps overhead every-one… except for _ me _. I live in the horizon, the backdrop the moon moves across.” he spreads his hands below him in his own imagined visual of his horizons view, “When I watch over the forest from above, the moon moves below me…” his eyes widen and he splays his hands cartoonishly, “--and I jump!” He giggles at himself, “A bit silly, but it’s a name I simply started to call myself for a while now.”

That’s interesting, and his attitude of it being a silly nickname rather than a title he’s always had just about confirms her suspicions that he hasn’t talked to anyone in a _ very _long time. He was probably alive back before everything with the Queen happened and had a name he used regularly. Like Tim or something. Maybe he went to the horizon to escape? 

Regardless, she wasn’t going to pry the subject on anything from the Vannessa era with the reactions she’s had from the forests other denizens. And she won’t pry about past names on principle. If he wanted to mention what he used to call himself, he would have.

He looks down at her with a bit of playful snark “Though, you’re in no position to judge, _ Hat Kid_. I don’t think I have to ask where that nickname comes from, do I?” She is quite literally knocked out of her thoughts by his question, seeing it was paired with her hat being knocked off of her head and into her lap. Red strings wave above her for a second time tonight before returning back up into the sky.

“Hey! My hats have a lot of uses!” she grumbles without any bite, quickly regaining her curiosity, “Are those yours?” she asks, pointing up where the strings just were.

He nods. “The very same stitching that holds me to the sky!” Odd. But her mind is focused on something else.

“Can I see one?” It looks a bit like her yarn, she wonders if it feels like it too.

In response, a red string lowers itself in front of her. In terms of its thickness and woven appearance, she was right. But otherwise this is definitely not her yarn. This has a bright, solid red unlike any shes ever seen, the color seeming to glow from inside it without illuminating her hands as she held it. She tugs on it, glancing up to the point in the sky where it stretches past what she can see. It holds taunt. Without a passing glance to her friend who might advise her against it, she jumps, hoists herself to hang on the string, and wraps her foot into the section that dangles below her to loop around her boot. Any fears of being rusty in her adventuring basics are dashed as she leans back and lets herself swing. 

Successful, she chances a glance at him, a proud grin on her face. 

He looks delighted by her antics and gives her a few polite claps. 

Looking back to the ‘rope’, she shimmies up until she can hang eye to eye with the specter.

"Now we can talk easier!" She grins at him and switches her leading arm so she won’t get sore and can hang longer. Moonjumper laughs before his face settles in thought. 

A new smile tugs his lips, and suddenly the end of the string unwraps itself from her foot with a life of its own, leaving her to hang from her upper grip while it adjusts, growing in length to wrap and tie back around itself until in a flurry of movements spanning a few short moments. The loose end shots up into the sky on her other side, bumping under her knees and lifting her into a mid-air sit. Slightly frazzled, she adjusts and looks down to find herself sitting in a knitted swing. 

Being left to hang in the air like that was… mildly disconcerting for sure! But then again...

Unable to resist, she kicks her feet out and delights in the discovery that yes, it works just the way any other swing would. 

“Better?” He asks. And dangit he’s not wrong, it’s very much better to sit and swing than hang.

There may be no true hard feelings, but she won’t let him off with that without a good ol’ taunt. Sticking out her legs to swing away from him, she sticks out her tongue with a _ bleh_. He laughs, bright and loud. The grin that won’t leave his face now rivaling the forests other ghost. 

Among her own laughter, the gears in her head start to turn. She can’t help but notice how she taunted him without any internal debate. She just _ knew _ the normal rules of Subcon wouldn’t work on him. He’s odd, a _ little _ scary, all of which is very Subcon of him except that he’s also making an effort to be _ nice_.

She looks at him, his eyes still shut giggling at a joke that wasn't even that funny. Looking down around them, the circle is full with both the light and Moonjumper, there’s nothing else for him to hide… this is all there is.   
She’s met a new friend. Really and truly.

And to test that theory on taunting…

She grins, leaning forward on her swing, and lets one hand go of the string to blow him a kiss. He raises a hand to his chest and gasps, the other grasping at empty air to ‘catch’ the kiss. It was silly. An exaggerated exchange reminiscent of the rest of Subcon, except with, well, affection instead of throwing insults. Her mind racing with a hunch confirmed, Moonjumper wasn’t done yet.

He holds both hands to his chest now, his smile turning from cartoonish to genuine. 

“You’re sweet, child” He actually looks like he's _thankful_, and openly! 

Sitting there, she can’t remember the last time she could read such a positive emotion from someone so easily (barring Cooking Cat and then Bow Kid before her, of course). She had noticed too the way he earlier held her hand so lightly in their handshake, it was almost like he wasn’t used to holding onto anything. She figured before that it made sense with how ghosty he looks. But now she wonders if he was doing it out of courtesy to not make her uncomfortable. Or was he even afraid that he would hurt her by holding on too tightly? Hat Kid is used to accommodating for friends if she needs to, but not anyone so outwardly doing the same for her. 

Maybe it was the emotional whiplash of meeting someone like Moonjumper right after facing off against the Empress. Maybe it was how she was thinking of Bow Kid again and how she _ misses _ her. Or maybe it’s the reminder that only one out of several of her friends here can give her a nice gesture without it being back-handed in some form or another. Regardless, she’s left with a compliment and a simple smile catching her off-guard and leaving a strange knot in her throat.

She nods in lieu of a verbal response. 

Something must have shown on her face, because he drifts closer to her with a much smaller smile and offers her his hands extended. His head tilts in a question.... He’s asking to hold her? She’s unsure of what he really wants here, but this doesn’t feel like a threat (and her gut is pretty good on that). So she nods.

He lifts her up from the swing and pulls her closer into an embrace with a soft squeeze.

As gentle as it is, it almost knocks the breath out of her. No one on this whole planet, not even Cooking Cat, has hugged her. It’s always been Hat Kid running up to others and giving them a hug. And it’s only _ been _ Cooking Cat so far that has returned them.

It’s only fair then for her to return the favor. Wrapping her arms around him in turn and pressing her face into his shoulder.

And only fair that she won’t let go until he does first.

A moment later when he pulls away, she sees how much higher the two have been floating up. Her eyes are level with the tips of the trees now, and they sway with a steady breeze forming an unbroken sea outside of their circle. Beside her, Moonjumper has his neck craned back to gaze into the night sky, and she follows his lead. The moon has moved from its spot directly overhead the clearing and is now off to the side, making way for a few stars at the other end of the sky to show their shine in the moons choking light. 

“Do you know the constellations?” He asks, keeping his eyes fixed on the stars.

“No…” She’ll save the whole ‘I’m an alien’ talk for another day. She knows the constellations of a few planets! But she hasn’t had the chance to sit down and learn the ones here just yet. 

He lifts the arm that isn’t holding her up to trace a shape in the stars that are just beginning to peak into their view. 

“I’m very old,” he says, a smile tugging on his lips as he continues, “When I first learned their spots in the sky, we used to say that _ that _ asterism, right there, was a top hat for the actual constellation below it. A warrior brandishing a sword.” She can see the hat, but she keeps scanning for the warrior and their sword. The shape he traced for the warrior has no stars that remotely match the shape…it isn’t there.

He continues. “As time marched on, so did the stars. Some of them moved in the sky, changing the shape of the constellations. So now…” he traces again, a much smaller image below the hat “We have a very _ tiny _ hatted adventurer instead.” She gasps. She can see it now, cluster of stars for the head with a few strays as limbs. The left side having an extra stray as the remnants of the sword. 

A little kid in a hat, holding a sword… or maybe a trusty umbrella (Or a bat, but the bat wasn’t as trusty).

Hat Kid pulls out her umbrella, holds it up to match the constellation, and looks right at Moonjumper with a grin. “I don’t know what you’re trying to imply here!”

“You’re right,” he says, grabbing her hat and placing it on his own head, “It’s _ me. _”

He laughs, she lunges to swipe back her hat, and they float there for a while. Pointing out stars and making new constellations out of what remained of the ones left over time. 

It’s easily one of the most treasured times she’s spent on this planet. 

All too soon he drifts back down, lowering her until solid ground meets her feet. 

She looks up to him in question. Why is he floating so far above her that she has to crane her neck up to see him, and hold her arms over her head to keep holding his hands? It was a little uncomfortable. 

If she had looked down, she would have seen the way the shadows had almost all but overtaken the clearing, their little sliver being the last remaining slice of moonlight. 

“It’s been a pleasure speaking with you tonight,” Wait, so soon? It had barely been any time at all, “But the moon is bidding me goodbye. Where its light falls, so do I.” Oh no. No no no no _ no _— she shakes her head. The moonlight isn’t the only time he can travel, it’s the only time he can visit this planet at all. She curses herself for not asking him more about the horizon earlier. Was he going to be okay up there?

They both now can see the way the light is shifting back into the shadows.

His hands slip out of her grip and he glides upwards, back home into the horizon.

“Hat Kid, please come again another night. I’d love to share more of your company.”

Cloaked fully yet again in the familiar twilight of the forest, she kept looking up at the night sky above until her vision blurred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... the next chapters going to get a little more hurt/comfort
> 
> Side note: I don't really like connecting this account with my other social medias, writing is hard for me to share and I really like having an anonymous outlet for it. But... the idea of HK on a swing made by Moonjumper was too cute for me /not/ to draw when I first drafted this, so that's floating around somewhere.  
So uh, if you see a certain recent cartoonish art with that included among other doodles... hi! You found me! Pls keep it on the dl, I'm shy ^^;;  
And if you Know Me know me, UH HI! Sorry that I've never mentioned this. You can talk to me about it tho I won't be upset you found this or anything!
> 
> ANYWHO  
With that out of the way, thank you all so much for reading!!


	4. Prima Facie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY I MADE HER CRY. I WAS WRITING AND IT JUST KINDA HAPPENED

It’s late, but she doesn’t want to go home just yet. 

Walking clears her mind anyways, and Subcon’s comforting shades of purple manage to ease her worries. Not to mention how the cool breeze has been doing wonders for her puffy face! 

When she first started back on the path, the tears slowly began to come down. It just didn’t feel fair for her to meet someone so kind and just start getting to know them-- only to have them pulled away by some dumb moonlight! 

Yet again she forces herself to pause her stride, take a breath, and continue moving onwards. This isn’t the end, she reminds herself. He’ll come back! And she’ll be back too! Heck, every night she’ll visit if she has to! She mentally kicks herself for not asking him more about the string, or the moonlight, or the horizon thing. Next time, she promises herself.

Part of her doesn’t understand why she feels so upset over him having to leave. Of course she would feel sympathy for someone who had to stay alone in the sky, but this felt like a personal loss. It’s not like she’s as lonely as he sounds, she has plenty of friends here! 

And… sure, most everyone else has tried to kill her before being her friend, but she’s still gotten past that stage with most of them! Peck, she’s BFF’s with a giant ghost! 

She nods in thought, and with a loud sniffle she pulls herself together just a bit more. 

It had surprised her to see Snatcher dangling from the side of her ship along with various others she fought before they ended up fighting _ for _her. It warmed her heart, she made a lot of strange friends here. But said strange friends still had to be batted away from her ship like a family of raccoons being shooed from a dumpster. She had a planet to go home to!

And she did. 

And then she came back. 

And _boy _was it another surprise when her security alarm blared the moment she reentered orbit over Earth. Lo and behold, in a now very familiar position above her pillow pile, the Snatcher himself sat with his book looking all the world like he had always been there. 

He briefly complimented her home and then got right into lining up the first of many contracts made specifically to challenge her hubris and tempt her to bite off more than she can chew. His rules were that once she had given up on a contract she signed, her soul was his to keep. 

Initially there had been a sense of… bitterness. She got the feeling he _really _ wanted to see her fail over and over. And she did. She pouts at the memories of her multiple ‘deaths’ inside the altered timepieces. Her mood sours only for a moment at the thought however, she quickly resumes her pace with a bit more confidence in her step. Because of course she can’t forget how after all those times she failed, finally she didn’t. 

-

_One last blow to the towering iridescent form... and _poof_!_

_She won._

_Just like that the two were back in her room, both grinning wildly. She looked up at him, bouncing on her heels since this one had promised a _prize_. _

_S_ _eeing her enthusiasm he laughed, “That was impressive! You’ve earned it, kid” and materialized a new outfit in his hands. _

_A dark void fabric with a purple glow identical to Snatchers own in a recreation of her usual outfit with a tattered moth-eaten cape. And… was that a glamor she saw? She stretched her hands in a grabbing motion and he tossed the outfit in her direction. _

_In an instant, the outfit was on (gotta love time-alien perks) and twirling around she admired the glow on her sleeves and…_

_She gasped with delight._

_Her _hands_ also had that look of a shadowy void and that purple glow. She ran over to the toolbox on her desk, rifling around until she pulled out a small square piece of mirror, and was greeted with two glowing eyes and a bright smile._

_This was the coolest thing ever!_

_She turned to grin at the ghost who gifted it in the first place. He seemed pretty pleased with himself._

_“_Finally_,” he started “I can stand to look at you!” _

_Too happy to form words, she stuck her tongue out at him. _

_An eye of his grew taller in his shifting form, mimicking a raised brow._

_“If you don’t appreciate it I can take it back.” Which earned him a pillow to the face. _

_A few minutes and a few dozen thrown pillows later, she was moving to leave her room and grab some water when his voice stopped her._

_“Before you go, kid, you might as well sign off on your next contract.” the map appeared in a puff of smoke in front of her face, “They don’t have any prizes , but you just can’t pass up _**dying** _ over and over again, can you?” he continued, smug as can be._

_Yeah... no thanks._

_Instead, she nudged the map away and turned to continue out the door, cheerfully stating “I think I can! Thanks for the gifts!!” and making a quick escape to the kitchen. Laughing at his muffled cry of protest from the hall._

_The glare he gave her when she returned with her cup was priceless._

_“You little brat.” _

_She shrugged and made her way up to his perch, plopping herself down next to him._

_“Whatcha reading?” _

_He huffed, fed up “An absolutely _useless_ book. I deserve a refund. I should… should sue.”_

-

With the time that has passed as she was lost in her thoughts, she realizes with a smile and another loud sniffle that she's getting close to where said BFF lives. 

Maybe she’ll stop by and sit with him as he reads. His house is always warm and bright and a _ great _ place to nap… as long as he doesn’t toss her out. But he’s been doing that less and less as of recent! She knows he secretly enjoys the company too.

As it turns out, however, she didn’t have to go much farther to run into her friend.

**“Heyyyy kid”** The voice of the one and only Snatcher growls behind her.

She frowns. That’s the voice he uses to scare newbies. And that ‘kid’ is for _ sure _ in a general sense and not in a secretly affectionate nickname-way that he usually does. 

She stops walking and crosses her arms in front of her. She’s not in the mood to play games with him. If this is a trick, he better stop.

The voice moves closer, snaking to her side before stopping abruptly **“You’re faaarr from hom-- **Kid?” There it is. 

Wait. 

Did he seriously not know it was her??

She turns on her heel to face him, looking up with her brows furrowed.

“Jeez kiddo, you look awful.” His face is fallen in that squished way and his mouth is pressed in a flat line. Quickly, it bounces back up to a tall grin as he continues, “I thought that crying was _ another _ child, one who knows how to hand over a soul without any hassle.” He clasps his hands together and closes his eyes shut “Just wishful thinking I suppose!”

Normally, she has a comeback at the ready and can banter with him for hours. But right now she just stares up at him, the difference between this ghost and the one she just said goodbye to couldn’t be any more glaringly obvious. Yes she knows Snatcher cares, telling her she looked upset was his way of pointing it out to show he was concerned. And he answered her silent question of ‘why were you speaking like that’ as well as throwing in a ‘you’re strong enough to keep your soul’ as a compliment (that last part may be stretching it... but she has to take what she can get). 

She knows him, she can do the work and think around the layers built in his words. But with Moonjumper she didn’t _ have _to. From the short time she knew the blue dork would outright ask her if she was alright, he’d probably give her another hug, even. 

Without meaning for it to, a fresh set of tears streaks down her face. 

Snatcher cracks open an eye at the silence and peers down at the girl. He shrinks from the larger size he was expecting to get a scare with to a smaller, more manageable height, and then leans in closer, eyeing her critically. “I can’t believe it.” He says flatly “Did something** finally** manage to scare you the way a **soul-stealing shadow** couldn’t?” Translation: _You're brave enough to hang around me, what could scare you? What happened? _But. 

_ But. _

Why can’t he just say it?

He shifts uncomfortably, his ever moving form fidgeting as she rubs her face into her shoulder and continues to stay silent. “Kiddo… you’re freaking me out here.”

Her lips are wobbling now and more tears are threatening to fall. Her arms are still crossed tightly over her front and some little part of her wants to reach out to him. But she knows she really shouldn’t, it’d only hurt more when he inevitably brushes her off. 

And isn’t that unfair too? She can't reach out to her BFF-- or ANYONE on this whole STUPID PLANET of meanies.

She hiccups a sob and hunches over herself where she stands.

And Snatcher, to his credit, tries something. 

She feels rather than sees him pinch her cape and the back of her jacket together in his hand, hoisting her up into the air. She feels the fabric tug as she swings gently with movement. He’s taking her somewhere. 

It takes a moment, but she calms down enough to unravel her face from her arms and look around her. They’re at his tree home. He’s floating over the twisted roots and into the entrance. 

He shrinks some more to sit down in his massive armchair, plops her onto it’s armrest beside him, and lets out a very long sigh. She watches him blankly as her stream of tears slows.

“You uh,” He side-eyes a weary glance over her, voice low in the awkward air. “in… pain?” 

She goes to open her mouth but immediately is hit with a sick feeling in her gut and an unmoving lump in her throat. She shakes her head no.

“Good. Good…” He sucks in air he doesn’t need through teeth he doesn’t have. “Are you scared of… anything?" His voice takes on a faux-hopefulness "Me? The forest?” His tone brightens, getting closer to its usual high energy. “Is there something more frightening, kiddo? If there’s a house more haunted than mine, you have to tell me!”

It would be nice if she was up to joking with him right then. But she just feels… drained. She shakes her head again and pulls her knees to her chest, readying to hunker down and ride this sadness wave out.

With her head now tucked into her arms, she doesn't see him deflate dramatically into his seat.

“Well kiddo, that’s just about exhausted all of the reasons I can think on why you’re like this,” From the crook of her arm she furrows her brows, there’s a LOT more things to cry over! “And I can’t have you wandering about my forest like that! So you just… sit there... while I read." He trails off.

She lets out a breath and relaxes a fraction. She _ was _a little worried he was planning to kick her out, she’s glad she can stay. 

The two sit in silence. 

...

Not even a full minute passes before Snatcher clears his throat. 

Hat Kid pulls her puffy eyes up from her knees and over to him.

He takes a breath before he begins, as if the words are about to bring him physical pain, “Do you want…” There's a sour look on his face as if he's offering to eat nails “a _ hug_?”

This gets her attention, because _ yes_, she does. And she nods as much from her perch on the armrest, drying her eyes on her sleeve and looking up at him in a silent plea.

There’s a moments pause. The forest outside the tree seems to quiet. And it stays quiet as he finally initiates the hug, lifting her up with one hand and bringing her to an approximation of his chest, just under his right shoulder below the floof at his neck. She practically latches onto him the moment she's lowered close enough. Snatcher huffs an annoyed sigh, wrapping one arm around her and leaving his other hand across her back in a snug hold.

"You sure there isn't anyone I can **kill **to fix this?" He asks.

Hat Kid shakes her head no, her face buried under the fluff above where his shoulders would be. He huffs again and pats her back. 

They sit like that for a few minutes as the hitches in her breath smooth and disappear. Another stretch of time and the tension in her body leaves bit by bit until she relaxes fully against him. 

Some time later, the calming circles he rubs on her back stop and he knocks back her hat, lightly ruffling her hair as he does. 

"You better not fall asleep on me, kid." He grumbles softly, placing her hat on the ground before returning his hand to her back and settling deeper into the chair himself. She's too tired and comfortable to care that he's contradicting himself again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From my notes. This spawned this entire chapter and the next:  
"Snatcher hears sniffling and is like “oh boy a dumb lost child i can steal a soul from!”  
But its HIS crying child- uh he means- he already knows this kid"  
Also some good news/bad news re: my update 'schedule':  
Bad News: I've had a 'complete' version of this chapter drafted since I posted the first chapter...  
Good News: The version I'm posting now is almost twice the length of the original (and with more editing!)  
I have to admit that updates may continue to be slow going as I find time and motivation between school, but there is more I want to write and I don't want to give up! So updates may be slow, but they will happen (and it may be for the better that they are delayed enough for me to give a good few read-throughs)!


	5. Sappy Spector

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -wiping tears from my eyes- he's such a soon-deh-ray

It was borderline _ unsettling _to see Hat Kid like this, it left an odd feeling sitting in his non-existent gut. 

After she agreed to a hug, because of _ course _ she would, he sent out a flair of serious threat and anger around him. Undetectable to alien little girls but understood loud and clear to the other residents of Subcon who all turned tail and ran, leaving them in silence. He might need her to lighten up for his own reasons in upholding his reputation, but it wouldn’t exactly help his case if he was seen _ hugging _ her. He wasn’t going to let anyone misinterpret what was _clearly_ strategic planning on his part as anything but.

The decision to pluck the kid up and take her to his tree home was an easy one, he barely thought about it as he did it. Only on the way did the rationalization come to him. Of course he couldn’t have left her crying in the middle of the forest, this is the kid that single-handedly defeated him, the unchallenged ruler of Subcon Forest. He can’t have her being seen in such a disheveled condition, it’d make him look bad in comparison! 

That was the panic that went through him as she cried. Had to be. 

And look, he can admit to himself that part of that anger flare was built from whatever had upset her in the first place. Why shouldn’t he be upset? He’s the scariest thing around, if anyone’s going to spook the kid, it’s going to be _ him_. 

Plus, he reasons as he sits rubbing circles on the back of the crying child on his chest, she’s no fun like this. No banter, no quips. He’s never had to fill the silence alone with her, not since she stopped being scared of him, oh… two contracts in? She had decided to heckle him in his own home, giving a snarky reply to every snappy comment of his. He smiles fondly. He threatened to eat her soul and she blew a raspberry at him before hopping off on her scooter. 

It’s moments like those that remind him how she really is just a child. Not that that on its own would ever make a difference in his thought of her. No, he was _definitely _going to take the soul of whatever kid was dumb enough to get lost and sob so openly in a haunted forest until he found that it was his contractual BFF. And it wasn’t that flimsy bit of parchment that saved her either.

No, the kids proved herself remarkable in a way that he… he frowns through the thought… he wants to be proud of. She’s ridiculously strong and ten times as clever as most people that stumble into his forest. Every contract he’s ever thrown at her, she tackled over and over until it was done. And those were the Advanced Contracts! Before that, she practically breezed through those initial contracts when she first gave up her soul.

He respects that. It’s why he gave her a battle instead of a simple execution when she finished her contractual obligations, just killing her wouldn’t have proven anything. And instead she ended up proving herself. 

He supposes that’s also why he isn’t taking the opportunity to kill her right now.

Though, there is another feeling that he can’t seem to shake. After getting back her soul she continued to visit the forest, and seeing her around more and more… it dredged up thoughts of an unused bedroom in the old manor filled with gifts and toys and an <strike>_empty crib_</strike>. 

But of course before he could even begin to address _ that _mess, the whole world decided to crack open and spew lava everywhere. The kid managed to fix it with her Timepieces and just up and left the planet right afterwards!

He was a bit miffed when she came back, but it gave him the perfect chance to test out an idea he was throwing around before she left. 

The original "Death Wish"'s were made as fun challenges for the two of them. Unfortunately, they were never played since **someone **literally dropped off the face of the planet for seven months.

There were some days back before then, and still today even, when she would use one of her Timepieces to replay the recorded moments in time from when they were retrieved and retrace those events, including the contracts he gave her. He asked her about how it worked and the two talked a good amount on the theory and application of running through these recorded states. Real fascinating stuff.

If he’s being honest, the kid is so smart sometimes it’s scary. After she refused to sign any more of his Advanced Contracts she started hanging around him and striking up random conversation, hoping to find new “BFF activities” that they could do. Discussing his law books bored her to tears (It was a fake sob, she was just being dramatic), playing one of her “video games” gave him “motion sickness” (He’s _so glad _ her species managed to invent stationary sea-sickness. Really.), and they had discussed time-theory enough that it had become old hat (Ha). 

He doesn’t remember how the conversation turned to space, but he had just mentioned taking a few supplementary studies in astronomy while getting his degree pre-law school, and that was all it took for the kid to light up and start dragging him by the hand and through the hall out of her room. 

He had thought she was going to lead him to the massive window where the ships main controls were. There was an amazing view of the planet as well as the surrounding stars from an angle he had never seen before! He’ll admit he’s spent some time gazing through it on his own while waiting for the kid to wake up or finish a contract. 

But instead she continued to pull him along, dragging him through the door below the kitchen and down its hall into… an engine room. At the time he had made the connection of this being the side of the ship that faced away from the planet. He was confident then that she planned to give him an unhindered view of the stars without the reflected light from the planet in the way. 

He was wrong again. 

Right at the end of the hall there was a desk. Hat Kid moved over to it, quickly throwing open the attached filing cabinet and revealing a set of folders stuffed with papers. 

"I had to study a bunch of astronomy to go on this mission," She began. "And while I was transporting the time pieces I started doing some of my own studying before-” She twinkled a hand in the air and blew a raspberry. “-they all went everywhere and got pulled into Earth…” She trailed off as she sorted through the folders until her gaze landed on one that she pulled out victoriously.

With all the stars in the sky shining in her eyes, turned to face him. Beaming up a smile while practically bouncing on her toes she asked “Wanna review my papers with me?!”

Which is how there’s now a few bundles of typed paper in one language and inked cursive squeezed in throughout in another. She even promised to credit him as 'The Snatcher'. 

He huffs a silent laugh, shaking his head softly so he doesn't jostle her, this kid!

He looks down at said girl in his arms. She was resting soundly now, probably asleep judging from how she had gone from tense to a dead weight on top of him. But however peaceful she seems right now, experience reminds him to not let his guard down just yet.

He remembers pretty recently how she interrupted his late night reading by shooting up in bed with her brewing hat miraculously on and tossing an explosive potion into the middle of her room. She raised her arms, whooped in cheer, and then immediately fell back onto her bed and in a deep sleep. All with her eyes still closed.

Lifting a hand from her back, he tips her hat off onto the floor and lets his tail push it a safe distance away. He’ll let the kid rest here, but he’s drawing the line at allowing the chance for her to destroy his house in her sleep.

He'll admit, her rambunctious spirit ever-present is a good part of what's allowed her to worm her way from "kill as needed" to "guess I can't eat her soul now". Her antics remind him of his own, calling him back to some of the good memories of his prior existence. 

He pauses before resting his hand on her back again, looking down at her with this feeling tugging at him, and gives her a pat on the head. No one's around to see and she's fast asleep.

But like the many, many times before, she stands to correct him, shifting to bury her face deeper into the tuft above his arms and squeezing her arms for a moment before relaxing again in a sigh.

Very cute, yes. But even around her he has a reputation to keep up.

"You better not fall asleep on me, kid." 

He's sure to keep his voice low, because he's not a _monster_ okay? He's not going to startle her fully awake, especially not when he can feel the lull of sleep calling him just the same.

The weight of her resting soundly was comforting enough that he was beginning to drift off too. With one last half-hearted push of “don’t bother me” outwards across the forest, he allowed himself to slip unconscious.

It was unfortunately short-lived. In what was barely an hour later, he felt a tugging of the web laid across his forest. 

No, tugging was too kind of a word. Someone new and intrusive was stomping around and barreling into enough of his carefully weaved magic to set his hair on end. He can thank Hat Kid for the updated system. Ever since she realized she could walk into his old traps and set them off for fun, he started working on a method that was more widespread and didn’t directly summon him after being triggered. And he made _ve__ry sure _it wouldn’t trigger from someone who had been in Subcon longer than a few months. There’s been no more repeated false alarms from the kid followed by a day of relaxing his strained voice. 

But what it_ does _ mean is that right now, no matter how much he wants to continue lazying around like this, he has to deal with it. Especially since the barreling thing is heading for his home. Great. 

Drifting up from his chair with her in his arms, he curls around himself and teleports the two of them onto her ship. Similarly, he notes how the blaring ‘Intruder Alert’ alarm stopped playing when he entered after the first few times. He was especially thankful for that now as he held the sleeping child in his arms. 

With a nod to Rumbi, he drifts into her bedroom and tucks her into her bed. He’s about to leave, he can still feel the tugging, but the little girl alone in the large bed stirs something in him. So instead he takes a moment to scoop up a hefty amount of pillows and deposit them around her. Better.

Another curl and he’s back in his forest unburdened.

He reaches into the forest, and listens. A cacophony of crashes and pants of a chase surrounded by the giggles of his minions giving his newest victim a run for their money.

His smile twists higher. Finally, he can get some decent food around here.

\--

One devoured soul later, he found himself back on Hat Kid's ship.

No matter how much he may have dragged on his monologue, he knows there's no way that taking that owls soul took the hours she would need for a full nights rest. He's going to have to make his own entertainment in the meantime if he wants to wait for her to wake up.

So what to do, what to do…

A clang from the kitchen catches his attention. Cooking Cat must be preparing food for the kid.

With her being the only person who spends as much time hanging around the ship as him, he’s had to consider special treatment in how he acts around her. It’s not often that anyone sees him regularly without being a resident of the forest, and he can’t have her going around telling stories of him playing Casper and befriending a child. 

Which is to say that he heckles the chef every chance he gets, taunting her by dropping hints he plans to murder them both and eat their souls when her or the kid drops their guard. The best part is that it gets her every time!

Grinning, he slips into the kitchen.

“You know, I really didn’t think you had it in you, but color me impressed!”

She has her back to him as she works over whatever she's making. The only sign that she's noticed his intrusion being the sudden hunching of her shoulders while the steady _chop-chop-chop _of her knife continues. 

“**C'moooon**, I’m curious! _**Was it you?”**_ She always took the bait. 

She buries the tip of her chefs knife into the cutting board and turns to face him.

“What, Snatcher.” She says. It's less of a question and more a demand to get whatever he has to say over with already. 

He drags one of the chairs by the back wall into the center and curls onto it, placing his elbows on its back and propping his head with his hands. “Were you the one who made the little girl cry herself to sleep?” He smirked. “Because I _ know _ it wasn’t me.” Cooking cats face fell with confusion and hurt. Oh, that was perfect. 

He presses on before she can recover. “I figure it must have been caused by someone close to her. Maybe… someone who hangs around her ship?” He tries to put on an air of innocence, but the growing look of indignation on her face says it isn’t working. Ah well! 

Obviously he doesn't think she has anything to do with it, but he's not going to pass up free material!

The look on her face melts into worry as she looks past him and to the door. She begins to march her way past him. He watches her in amusement before realizing that she plans on heading into Hat Kid’s room. 

He frowns. 

“Whoa, whoa slow down!” He pushes up from his chair with a scrape and floats into her field of view, hands up in surrender. 

She pauses her pace to glare at him with a face that clearly reads ‘You have only a few seconds to say something worthwhile before I leave'. 

“I can admit my mistakes,_ I jumped the gun there! _So maybe it **wasn’t** you that upset the kid, but that doesn’t mean you should charge in there and wake her up.” His face twists in displeasure. "She really is tuckered out from crying."

“Are you tell me what was it that made her upset in the first place?” She asks, still anxiously looking past the door.

Snatcher shrugs, his smile returning. “Beats me!” She looks like she believes him, which is good, because he is actually telling the truth. “She came to my forest to cry. All **vulnerable **and **helpless** and _unaware of her surroundings!_" It doesn't look like she enjoys that answer as she levels a glare up at him. But hey, it's true! It would have been so easy to kill her. 

Her full attention is back to him now.

“And how was it that she got back here?” She has no right to sound as much as a teacher disciplining a rowdy teen as she does. 

But oh how he _**grins**_ as the answer comes right to him. She isn’t going to believe a word of this! “It was all out of the kindness of my own soul,” He tilts his head, putting a hand to his chest and a look of concern on his face that was ruined by his smile. “I held the poor thing close until the tears stopped. And after she fell sound asleep in my own two arms, I brought her to her bed and tucked her in, safe and sound.” He practically purrs the end, sickly sweet sarcasm dripping from his words.

Cooking Cats turns from the door entirely to round on him, raising a threatening claw to point at his chest.

“I don't care what you are, if you hurt that girl--”

Snatcher breaks his act, letting himself cackle. 

“Whaaat? Killing her while she’s bawling her eyes out? Where’s the glory in that?” He sneers at her. “I can teleport, remember? I just brought her to her room and put her to bed.” He waves a dismissive hand, turning to make his way out of the kitchen. “I can’t have her _ crying _ in my forest. It ruins the vibe.”

To his annoyance, she follows him out. He doesn't let his irritation show outside his smile pinning itself just a bit higher as he drifts towards the hall leading to her room.

"What happened to letting her get her shut eye?" There it is.

The two are right outside of the halls entrance. He twists around to face her with a grin.

“Oh don't worry, the kid sleeps like the dead, I won't wake her!" He says brightly. He’s read the book cover to cover a few times, but summoning 'How to Kill Kids' is such a good way to punctuate his performance. He gives the cover a teasing shake in front of her face before slinking past the sliding door.

To his surprise, she doesn't follow him in. 

It isn't until he's settled down in his usual spot and midway through chapter one that Cooking Cat makes a re-appearance, tiptoeing in with a glass and a pitcher of water in paws. She sets it down on the nightstand by her bed and takes pause to take a look at Hat Kid for herself, brushing a few loose strands of hair off her face before leaving the room with a soft smile on her face.

Bleh, the sentimentality is going to make him sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cooking Cat sweetie I'm so sorry you have to deal with him  
Snatchers Special Skill: making others upset
> 
> Coming soon is a one-shot that goes a bit more into Snatcher and Hat Kid messing with those "records" in the Timepieces mentioned here!  
It was going to be just a little snippet of a flashback like the last chapter, but it just kept growing and growing...


	6. Bushy Tailed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY SUPER WORM MOON EVERYONE  
Also I wrote a fun one-shot that's canon to this story  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/21766132

When she wakes, she finds herself tucked in her bed in her room in her ship with a sizable amount of pillows surrounding her. Slowly she shifts through them as she regains her senses, propping herself to sit up among the squishy rubble.

"**Mooorrning**, kiddo!" 

Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she turns to her right to see Snatcher in his usual spot in her room. Bright and happy as he reads the familiar massive book _ "How to Kill Kids" _, a sight that is as reliable as her nightstand at this point. 

"As enjoyable as it was being a child's pillow, I do have a forest to run!" His voice is dripping with sarcasm, but she smiles and wakes herself up some more with a yawn. 

Maybe he isn't upfront with his feelings, but she can still tell how much he cares.

And tease him about it.

“Oh, so that’s why you’re up here watching over me?” she asks innocently, keeping up the charade until her face breaks into a grin at seeing the way his face lights up (literally) and his smile stretches past his eyes. She really must have given him a scare when she wasn’t responding like usual last night.

“HA! For an alien that eats time or whatever it is you do with it, I thought you'd know how not to waste it!" He closes his book with a crisp _ snap _, "It hardly took me an hour to finish my business down there! And when I did, I came back up here…” he began to leisurely list ”Did some light reading... drafted new contracts… some advanced contracts...“ The last one making her sit up a bit straighter in bed.

“With new prizes?” She adds, clutching her hands under her chin and giving him the sweetest smile she can muster.

“No.” He says, still smiling.

She taps her chin a few times, mulling it over a whole two seconds before shaking her head.

He sighs dramatically. “You know I’m really just trying to help you here kid. These are custom made to give experiences someone would never have otherwise!” His signature grin stretches up past his eyes. “I mean really, thanks to me who else has experienced DEATH as much as you have?!”

He roars with laughter at his own joke, slapping the edge of his curled tail as he doubles over.

It isn’t really that funny. Like at all. But his own reaction causes her to break out into giggles with him.

“Ahhh!” He sighs, flicking a blue tear out of the corner of his eye “Kids these days! No respect!”

The two drift into comfortable silence. Snatcher picks his book back up and starts to read again.

With the lull in conversation, she notices the new additions to her bedside dresser. Being the spacetraveler she is, Hat Kid constantly hops to and from drastically different locations on Earth when she’s not hanging above it in her ship. Which means that bedtime is always (and also never)!

And of all the guests who are invited, sneak, or freeload in her home, only one has the habit of leaving the same glass and pitcher of water whenever her visits find Hat Kid fast asleep. She can’t help but feel thankful as she reaches for the glass, her pounding head reminding her of all the crying she did yesterday. And in doing so, she realizes she still has her boots on. 

In fact, looking down reveals that she's still in her adventuring get-up-- sans her hat of course, which must have fallen off her head as she rolled in her sleep. While she suspects it was her ghosty BFF that dropped her off this time, she was no stranger to falling right into bed exhausted on previous days escapades.

Taking small sips of her cup, she gradually began to truly wake listening to the thrum of her ships machinery and the pages of Snatcher’s book slowly turning across the room. 

This peaceful moment was the perfect time to strategize on the whole ‘Moonjumper Situation’.

Having already seen the spoils of each trip back to base, she knows that her current adventure should lead her to recover three more Timepieces before returning to her planet. And if her previous experience is anything to go on, new people means new Timepieces. 

For the most part people tend to wave Timepieces in her face whenever they themselves have one. And Moonjumper had done nothing of the sort. Working with these assumptions, her best bet may be to scan the surrounding forest before her next visit to her new friend. 

Because he will be her friend, she decides. No Timepiece induced betrayals or battles.

She was going to find every Timepiece before he came back--peck, he’ll never even _ know _ what a Timepiece is!

With a determined nod, she slides out of bed and takes a final gulp of her glass before picking up the pitcher as well. 

Now of course she has to greet and thank the cat responsible for the morning refreshments.

Turning to her bed, she expects to find her hat laying there… except it’s not.

Maybe it was tangled in her blankets?

Setting the glass and pitcher back on her nightstand, she grabs the edge of the blanket with both hands and _ whish- _es it up into the air. Batting it around to encourage any rogue headgear to fall to the mattress… except it doesn’t.

Climbing back onto the bed and checking under the pillows reveals nothing as well.

That's fine! Maybe it fell off.

Gripping the edge of the mattress, she leans over each side to check, even peeking her head under the bed for good measure (and keeping an eye out for stray monsters).

She didn't lose her hat on her walk last night, did she? 

She recounts the events, step by step. And while being knocked off or nabbed it was always returned squarely on her head…

Except for the very last sleepy memory of a _ certain _ ghost tipping it off of her head before patting her hair. 

Her eyes narrow to glare at the same ghost across the room who hasn't turned a page in a while and is holding his book high to cover his face.

_ "Snatcher?" _

"Yeah, kid?" The book doesn't lower.

"Where's my hat?"

"Oh, that thing?"

Her umbrella may be stored in the endless depths of her trusty hat, but her bat is still resting against her wardrobe. And she has blue paint stashed in her toybox for this sort of reason.

"That thing." She confirms.

He poofs the book away somewhere and instead of the shit eating grin she was expecting him to have, the smile he sends her way is more of a nervous sort.

“Now. Before you start throwing things at me, just know that this was an accident!” He floats up out of his sit and into an equivalent of a stand. She eyes her toy chest. “_ I left it in my forest _\-- buuut! I’ll be back with it in just a few minutes!” He clasps his hands and smiles, disappearing like his book in a puff of purple.

She snorts and shakes her head. He _ actually _forgot! Here she was thinking he was about to send her on some scavenger hunt or force her to sign a contract to get her hat back. 

Well, it wasn’t like she _ needed _ her hat to go and say hi to Cooking Cat. 

Leaving her room and climbing up to the kitchen, she did just that. 

Her cat friend was over by the oven doing meal prep for her, herself, and the Mafia no doubt. If learning the abundance of food she cooked wasn’t enough, Hat Kid recently discovered her cat friends status as famous TV show host! Every adventure Cooking Cat goes on is recorded and broadcasted live (except for the trips up to her ‘alien spaceship’, which Hat Kid is very happy to note).

Hearing the door, Cooking Cat glances behind her and smiles before turning back to the stove. “You’re awake just in time for a warm meal, it’ll be ready soon!”

Going up to her, Hat Kid pokes Cooking Cats arm for attention, which after another quick stir of the pan she gives to her while covering it with a lid and moving a dial on the oven. Food taken care of, she has her full attention.

“Thanks for the water!” She chirps, moving the pitcher to the counter and her glass into the sink.

“You’re welcome! Now,” she pulls the girl into a quick hug before letting her go with a look of gentle concern, "I heard you had a rough day."

She heard..? Oh.

The mental image of Snatcher airing her woes came to mind, gossiping the way adults do.

_ Traitor _, a grumpy part of her mind supplies.

But if it ends with her getting a hug, she really can't complain. Three different hugs from three different people, she’s on a roll! Master of hugs! Collector of comforts!

“Yea, but I’m feeling way better now!” In fact… a certain specter wasn’t here to protest her painting him in a good light. Something she knew was sorely needed when it came to Cooking Cat’s idea of him. “Snatcher cheered me up! He gave me a hug and let me sleep in his chair!”

The surprise on her face was visible.

“That’s... very nice of him.”

Hat Kid nods vigorously. She had told her before about his whole big mean and scary act, but honestly the examples of him actually being nice are few and far between. 

Cooking Cats contemplative look replaces itself with one of confusion.

“Where’s your hat?”

Um.

“Um… Snatcher left it in his forest. He went to go get it back.”

Her mouth fell in a flat unimpressed line.

“It was an accident!” He knows not to _ actually _ mess with her hat! 

The cat raises her paws in surrender, but still very clearly unconvinced.

Looking back to the stove, Cooking Cat moves on “We have about fifteen minutes left until that’s ready. You up for a round?”

Happy once again, Hat Kid nods and runs to pull two of the chairs from the walls and unfold the table tucked by the shelves. Cooking Cat was interested in the differences and similarities in Earth life and her ‘alien life’ since the two had met, and they’d turned it into a game. It both satisfied Cooking Cat’s curiosity and gave Hat Kid some much appreciated information on how things worked on Earth.

With the two seated, Cooking Cat began:

“Washing machine?”

Oh yeah, they both have that!

“Yep! I’ve only seen clothes washed in Earth ones but they look like they work the same! You put dirty stuff in and it makes them clean, right?”

“That sounds like it alright, and we also don’t wash just clothes in them. But what else do _ you _ put in it besides clothes?

Hat Kid counts on her fingers as she lists them off. “Clothes, people, blankets, pillows, uhhh curtains maybe? I actually just hit my curtains with a stick but I think people wash them in washing machines sometimes.” Looking back to her friend, she had the expression of confusion and concern that came from a particularly strange difference. Like their microwaves.

“Aliens put people in washing machines?” 

Her confusion rocks Hat Kid to her core.

“You guys don’t wash people?!”

“We shower!”

Shower is a rain word...

“You stand in the RAIN?!?”

Hat Kid was standing on her chair now, arms in the air. Cooking Cat shook her head and laughed. She knew that couldn’t be it, but most of the fun of the game was getting theatrical.

One three minute conversation on rain followed by a ten minute talk on plumbing, food was ready to be served and the rest stored away. 

Finishing up their plates, Cooking Cat broke the silence. 

“Do you want to come on a grocery run with me to Mafia Town?”

She thinks about it for a moment before nodding. It’s been a while since she visited Mafia Town outside of a recorded timepiece!

“Let me finish up my list and then we can go.” She pulls a pad of paper and a pencil out of her coat pocket and starts to scribble onto an already long list.

Seeing this gives Hat Kid an idea.

Dashing back to her room she grabs a pen from her toolbox and a scrap of paper from her toybox. Meeting back in the kitchen, she returns to her chair and starts a list of her own.

“ QUESTIONS: 

-Can you go _ anywhere _ there's moonlight?

<strike> \- Why do </strike> -What did you mean the strings hold you in the sky

-What is the horizon like?

-Are you trapped?

-Help?

-Know Snatcher?

-Soul? (have/eat)

-Favorite color?

-Do you want a new monocle?

-Do you believe in aliens?

-Are you a ghost?

-Do you remember when the world was lava?“

Tonight she was going to that ring of rocks, and she was going to be _ prepared _.

With a scrape of a chair, Cooking Cat stood up and tucked her list back into her coat.

“Ready to go?”

… But first a grocery run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more I write the more I realize that I have really been low balling how many chapters it’s going to take me to get to certain plot points… but that just means more content huh? 
> 
> Also a lot of the time between updates I've been reading up on astronomy stuff like a nerd, you know you're in too deep when you start thinking about headcanons for how planets and moons revolve and rotate
> 
> ALSO. I'm a man of my word, here is my art blog on tumblr:  
slipnslideblog.tumblr.com  
Heyo, call me Silver! I doodle and recently I'm getting into streaming, all that fun stuff can be found on that blog. I really gotta write faster so I can post doodles without spoiling stuff lol


	7. Bright Eyed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I assure you all that no one wants to get to Moonjumper faster than me. I want to read my own story so bad. I want the moon man BACK.  
Also thanks to @AceofIntuition who helped inspire names for the minions in this chapter! u hella

After summoning a puff of smoke to mask his escape, Snatcher jumped into the ground and teleported back to his forest. Right outside of his tree where he left the hat. 

In and out. He'll be back up on the ship with her hat like this hiccup never happened!

Except, when he took a look inside his tree nook, the hat wasn’t there.

"Look!” A nasally voice called from behind. “It fits!"

Turning around, Snatcher was faced with the sight of one of his minions standing at the edge of the swampy moat around his home, proudly displaying the… purple top hat over his hood.

It should really be no surprise that underlings of an entity known as "The Snatcher" might themselves have sticky fingers. 

Snatcher sighed. He knew this particular minion quite well. Not to say that he didn’t know all of his other minions, since he very much does. But this one in particular has a _ history _ of doing things he shouldn’t. 

“Can I have that back?” He asked, reaching a hand out to the young spirit. 

Before having their souls wrenched from their bodies, trespassers in Subcon have been known to complain about missing pons or supplies or valued keepsakes (what whiners). But once under contract they were safe... in that regard anyways. One rule every minion knew to keep was that you _ don't _ take from the boss.

The glow from the minions hood seemed to squint into a grin.

While they all share sticky fingers, a small few take after their boss in a love of loopholes as well.

"No!" He replied cheerfully before scampering deeper into the forest.

\--

Earth stores get repetitive pretty quick. The only difference Hat Kid’s been able to find so far is the order the foods are arranged on the shelves. 

Cooking Cat has already taken her to this one before. And since she already knows what it’s like inside, there’s really no use in following her in. 

Waiting outside the exit, Hat Kid relaxes in the sunshine and blue skies she’s been missing during her visits to Subcon or when staying on her ship. 

She doesn’t notice the Mafia Man until his shadow starts to block her light.

_“HATTED CHILD!” _He calls, startling her out of her daze. 

His voice was different from the other Mafia, and the rough state of his clothes along with his quirky bow-tie confirms him as none other than the goofy Mafia man who likes to sort around her mail and ask her questions on the ‘impending invasion’ of much more dangerous otherworldly visitors.

“Explain to Mafia what you have done to the sky!” He’s not… accusatory exactly. Just loud and inquisitive. 

She shakes her head in confusion. 

From a few conversations they’ve shared on her ship she’s managed to convince him that she means this world no (intentional) harm and just wants her hourglasses (rightfully) back...

“Mafia knows aliens are up to something! Something in the sky.” ..._ but _ he’s still hung up on the idea that she knows secrets about inconsequential astronomical events.

“Does little girl know anything about those alien satellites?” He points out towards the shoreline at an unremarkable point in the sky still solid blue with daylight. 

"Two looking down on us like eyes!" His voice falls into a hush before rising again. “Mafia Man much more clever than others think, Mafia takes boat out to sail to the night sky! Other Mafia say 'Mafia just looking at stars', but what do other Mafia know?" He finishes with an exaggerated shrug and a dismissive expression. 

He stops his gesturing and looks down at her with a gleeful smile for confirmation to his ramblings.

And Hat Kid… uh.

She has no clue what he means. 

With all of the other Mafia milling about, she grimaces a smile and nods, trying to get out of this without starting a fight. 

Not that she thinks Goofy Mafia Guy would ever try and fight her-- and she even has enough respect of the rest of the Mafia that they’ve stopped punting her during games of patty cake after the whole ‘saving them from burning in lava’ thing-- but like the pig guys in that block game, a wrong move to upset one member of the Mafia is a wrong move against them all. 

And he especially is _ very _ easily spooked. She remembers the time when after another rainy day caused her to slip and become the mud monster yet again, she turned the corner right into Goofy Mafia Man, who’s shouts of alarm caused a nearby pack of Mafia Men to give chase to the mud creature scaring their buddy. Even after the rain washed the mud off she had to give a good few whacks and threatening swipes of her umbrella to get the mob of men to back down. 

The Goofy Mafia gives a nod, satisfied with her response. Thankfully, he’s never been the most observant when it comes to anything that isn’t his current conspiracy. 

“Mafia has much more research to do!” He straightens up, pointing a finger to the air in excitement. “History in Mafia Town is mostly fish. Mafia must look elsewhere.”

And just like that he’s off like a shot, running past the storefront and down an alley. 

What an odd guy. 

Not too long after, Cooking Cat stumbles out of the store with a heaping armful of groceries. Hat Kid rushes over to help carry the load, effortlessly stacking paper bags in a tower on her outstretched hand until Cooking Cat can breathe again. 

Cooking Cat sighs out a thanks, takes her HUB transporter out of her pocket with her free hand, and offers her elbow to Hat Kid who hooks her arm around hers. Hat Kid always lends the transporter to Cooking Cat when she’s parked above Earth, she can get back up to her ship on her own using the spare Timepiece she keeps in her hat.

And so, back up they went. 

The two make quick work of putting away the cold ingredients and packing non-perishables into the cabinets.

The two are also quick to note the distinct lack of spooky ghost or purple hat.

Hat Kid doesn’t have to face her to know the skeptical look on Cooking Cat’s face. So she doesn’t, and scampers out of the kitchen to grab that paint from her toybox.

Time to see what Snatcher’s been up to.

\--

Shooting down onto the planet, she doesn’t have time to give her typical twirl.

The forest shakes, knocking her off her feet in a familiar sensation of one of Snatchers ground dives. Getting up, she’s quick to spot both the ghost himself and the wave of raised ground coming at her. She jumps to avoid it with an instinct well ingrained from many failures to dodge the same attacks in his Advanced Contracts. 

His voice echoes across the space between them. “**YOU KNOW THE RULES!**” Snatcher bellows as he dives for something low to the ground. 

He bobs up empty handed as a giggling blur darts away. A dark purple blur topped with a familiar lavender. 

There are only a few who would be so bold as to not only take her hat, but take it from the Snatcher. She is pretty sure she knows _ exactly _which minion this is. He’s a friend of a friend.

Which means that said friend is probably hanging around nearby…

While Snatcher and the thief have their chase, neither of them notice Hat Kid moving stealthily through the forest around them. 

Snatcher shouts again, “**GET** ** _ BACK_ ** ** HERE!**” And she does her best to tune him out, instead listening for any other displaced noise while her eyes scanned the surrounding woods. 

There. To her right, right there, she heard _ giggling _. And it was a good ways away from the darting blur and coiling spirit.

She sneaks her way across with a purpose. 

Digging into the bush, she uncovers a familiar minion’s gleeful stare at the show before them. 

Hat Kid calls them Canary, because that’s what Canary told her to call them. A few other minions suggested nicknames after she started having trouble keeping track of everyone. Turns out knowing the same group of people for a few hundred years really wears away at something like a name. 

Looking up to her, Canary puts a stubby finger in a ‘hush’ while their other hand waves to motion her beside them in the brush. 

She sits down next to them and allows the branches to hide them once again. She’s not missing out on watching the rest of this.

She nudges Canary’s shoulder as Snatcher lets out another wordless scream in frustration.

“Why did he take my hat?”

They shrug, not taking their eye off of the action.

“I dunno yet!”

“Is he going to give it back?”

They snort and shake their head “Nah, he’s going to have to pry it from him!”

Hat Kid frowns, that wasn’t what she meant.

She starts to clarify that she means if they think he’ll return it to _ her _ when she’s cut off by Canary tugging at her arm at pointing back to the chase.

Or lack of one.

Snatcher holds the troublemaker in his grasp, smile twitching ever so slightly as he brings the minion close to his face.

** _“Why?”_ **

** **

It takes everything in Hat Kid not to burst out laughing at the exasperation in his voice. She’s heard tales of his work, but this is the first time she’s truly seen the infamous “Tort” in action. He offered her that name after finding it in one of Snatcher's books before he was caught reading it. It seems like he’s determined to study law, even if it means breaking a few of them in order to find them in the first place. That or he’s a fan of causing problems on purpose.

“Because,” The troublemaker retorts with an undashed cheer. “You don't own it!”

Snatcher gives a clipped “**What.”** in response.

_“You said _ ,” Tort begins, one hand still gripping the rim of the hat to his head, while the other points a nubby finger into his boss's face “I’m not allowed to touch any of _ your _things.”

**“I…” ** He falters. ** “I ** _ did _say that…”

The minion sits smugly in his hold.

"This-is the new-bies! It’s a _ loop-hole~" _ he singsongs, kicking his feet to the tune.

“Look,” Snatcher begins, ”**She** is going to _ kill me _ , **and you,** if I don’t get that hat back to her.”

Said girl has a wicked grin as she tugs the cloak of her friend to get their attention and lifts a blue paint-filled balloon in her other hand for them to see. She plans to _ absolutely _ wreak havoc should her beloved hat come to harm. 

Canary’s hands fly to the mask under their hood, but too little too late to quiet the barking laugh that rings across the forest before lowering to nervous giggling. 

That was loud.

The minion in Snatchers grasp gives a jolt as he whips around to glare at the offending bush. 

Busted.

Beside her, Canary makes a move to stand up and reveal themself. She starts to do the same before a plush arm pushes her back down into hiding. Canary raises their other arm over their head and gives their boss a wave.

Snatcher hoists Tort up by one arm to dangle in their direction. "AREN'T YOU _ SUPPOSED _ TO BE LOOKING AFTER _ THIS ONE? _" He yells over the distance.

They cup their hands over their mask and shout back.

"IVE BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON HIM!"

While the two shout back and forth instead of closing the distance and speaking at a regular volume, Hat Kid watches Tort with rapt attention.

He's staring very intently at the goofy hand that holds his arm in the air. And very, very slowly lifting her hat off of his head.

Snatcher was saying something about responsibility when in a snap succession Tort’s arm pops loose from Snatchers hold and her hat is tossed frisbee-style high between the trees. He hits the ground in a sprint after the spinning hat.

And just like that, him and the hat were gone. 

All Snatcher can do is sputter in disbelief, looking from his empty hand, to Canary, and then behind him where Tort ran off. 

“That **DOES IT--** ” Snatcher grows in size until his head is level to the treeline and calls out into the forest _“I’M GETTING THE KID! _” 

Hat Kid swears she hears a distant _ ‘Good!’, _ but it’s hard to tell over another rumble as Snatcher dives into the ground, no doubt to hop himself back out on her ship in that corner he’s claimed as his own.

Too bad she’s not there anymore. 

Hat Kid rises from the foliage and brushes some stray leaves off of herself. She keeps the paint-balloon out, and while using the balloon for its intended purpose is still very much on the table, now might be a good time to try out those negotiation skills Snatcher’s been trying to teach her. 

Beside her, Canary puffs themselves up in inhalation and shouts into the forest “**HE’S GONE!!**”

Not only does a familiar minion wearing her hat re-emerge,but a few whoops and cheers echo out from the forest surrounding them.

Much to her surprise, he doesn’t goad her or attempt to start a new chase. Instead, he takes the hat off and marches right up to present it proudly to her in his hands. 

"Here's your hat back!"

Well, there goes the pitch for a trade she was building in her head. But no doubt this is a pleasant surprise.

“Oh,” She gently retrieves her hat… and no tricks, she is holding her hat. “Thank you!” She returns it to its rightful place on her head and is complete once more. 

And well, since she was going to offer to trade it anyways, she holds the balloon out for him to take. “Here. It turns people blue if you throw it at them!”

He eagerly grabs it and runs off, yelling thanks behind him as he does. Hat Kid considers briefly what she may have released before ultimately shrugging it off. Subcon’s seen worse. 

With her hat back, her goals for the day returns as well:

\- Hunt for timepieces

\- (nicely) Interrogate Moonjumper 

Giving her farewells to Canary, Hat Kid makes her way past the swamp and down to the path she found yesterday.

Once there, she swaps to her adventuring outfit and secures her sprint cap on her head. Crouching into a runners pose, she takes off, zipping back and forth to comb the land near the ring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Hat Kid was able to get away with all that she has, I can only _imagine_ the shenanigans Snatcher’s minions have been able to pull over the years. Y’all think she’s the only gremlin here? Subcon Forest is full of eternal children who idolize _Snatcher_.
> 
> Fun fact: that was the same minion mentioned in Quality Time(pieces) who messed with Snatcher's books. He wasn't _taking_ them, just touching them! Extra work (being live bait for a new contractor) was his punishment. (Being loaned one of the books so he can


End file.
